Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are among the Big Tech companies listed as founding members of the newly formed x402 Foundation, created to govern and standardize the x402 protocol for agentic AI payments on crypto and fiat rails.
The x402 Foundation was launched on Thursday by the open-source software nonprofit Linux Foundation with aid from Coinbase, makers of the x402 protocol.
Other founding members of the x402 Foundation include American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Cloudflare, Shopify, Stripe, Circle, Base, Polygon Labs, Solana Foundation, Thirdweb and KakaoPay.
“The Internet was built on open protocols” – Jim Zemlin, CEO of the Linux Foundation, he said on Thursday, as he explained why the x402 protocol should adopt an open-source structure.
Running the x402 protocol under the Linux Foundation gives it a “non-profit neutral home” he said Coinbase. It could aid attract more support from tech companies and developers than if it were launched under the company’s banner.
The Linux Foundation is considered one of the largest and most influential open source nonprofit organizations in the world.
The move comes amid a broad industry belief that artificial intelligence agents could become the dominant users of blockchain payments in the coming years.
“Soon there will be more AI agents transacting online than humans,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, echoing comments from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire in January that “literally billions of AI agents” will be transacting online within three to five years.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, too he said in January, the cryptocurrency is the “native currency of AI agents” that will handle everything from purchasing tickets to paying bills without credit cards.
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x402 is an open payment standard that enables AI agents and web services to autonomously pay for API access, data and digital services.
x402 transaction activity exploded before crashing
Transaction activity for the x402 protocol peaked last November but declined in 2026, Dune Analytics data can be seen.
A peak of 13.7 million transactions was recorded during the week of November 4-10, followed by another 13.66 million transactions the following week.
However, since then, trading activity has declined sharply, with weekly transaction volume falling between 29,000 and 1.1 million.
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